SfN 2025: How ‘latent’ sex differences can trip up drug discovery
At the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego this week, Catherine Woolley’s plenary lecture was an unusual combination of debunking and affirming the importance of sex differences in the brain.

SfN 2025: How ‘latent’ sex differences can trip up drug discovery
At the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego this week, Catherine Woolley’s plenary lecture was an unusual combination of debunking and affirming the importance of sex differences in the brain.
Harbour Biomed launches AI-based antibody development platform
Harbour Biomed is stepping up its antibody discovery process by using AI to develop innovative therapeutics. “We have done great through the traditional way of generating leads and designing molecules, but there’s a major gap as some therapeutics cannot reach the desired location or common targets,” Harbour Biomed founder, chairman and CEO Jingsong Wang told BioWorld.
Radiopharm’s RAD-402 gains HREC approval in Australia for phase I
Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd. has been granted Bellberry Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval in Australia to initiate a first-in-human phase I trial of its KLK3-targeting radiotherapeutic, RAD-402, for the treatment of metastatic or locally advanced prostate cancer.
IO-112 is novel cancer vaccine harnessing Arg1-specific immunity
Arginase 1 (Arg1) is a key mediator of immune suppression, and its overexpression has been reported in multiple cancers, including renal cell carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and head and neck cancer. However, clinical strategies aimed at inhibiting Arg1 function have achieved only limited success.
Triple whammy: Ternary hybrid molecules to stop breast cancer
Anticancer drugs that work simultaneously through multiple mechanisms are sought after because of their potential for greater efficacy and robustness to resistance. Researchers at Capital Medical University and Chinese Institutes for Medical Research generated 21 ternary hybrids containing phenylsulfonylfuroxan, b-carboline und hydroxamic acid moieties.
Mabloc and Instituto Butantan partner on MBL-YFV-01
Mabloc LLC has established a strategic partnership with Instituto Butantan to co-develop and manufacture MBL-YFV-01, a monoclonal antibody therapy for yellow fever virus (YFV) infection, including emergency post-exposure use.
Yichang Humanwell Pharmaceutical patents new κ-opioid receptor agonists
Yichang Humanwell Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has disclosed morphinan derivatives acting as κ-opioid receptor agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of pain and pruritus.
CT-111 trispecific antibody promotes cooperative antitumor effects
Researchers from Chantibody Therapeutics Inc. presented the preclinical characterization of CT-111, a trispecific antibody engineered to simultaneously target PD-1, CTLA-4, and VEGF.

Conferences

CEACAM5-targeting ADC with a highly potent pan-RAS(ON) inhibitor payload
New compound
Although tricomplex pan-RAS (ON) inhibitors, such as RMC-6236, constitute a promising class of therapeutics against RAS-driven cancers, their on-target, off-tumor toxicities challenge the dosing strategy and the safety of drug combinations.
Small-molecule p53 Y220C reactivators with enhanced potency presented
New compound
Inactivation of the tumor suppressor p53 occurs in approximately half of human cancer cases. In particular, the Y220C point mutation, which induces p53 misfolding and inactivation, is found in about 1% of solid tumors. Previous research identified a unique, druggable pocket on the p53 surface...
RVU-305 shows potential against GBM in preclinical studies
AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics
In glioblastoma multiforme, MTAP loss leads to MTA accumulation, which partially inhibits PRMT5, making the cells reliant on residual PRMT5 activity for survival. Targeting this remaining PRMT5 with MTA-cooperative inhibitors induces synthetic lethality, representing a promising targeted approach...
Synergistic antiviral efficacy of HEC-191834 with siRNA in HBV models
American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
In preclinical studies at Sunshine Lake Pharma Co. Ltd., researchers investigated the antiviral and immune-modulatory potential of HEC-191834, a novel and highly selective human Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) agonist, in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) models, as well as its activity when combined...

Cancer

Signet builds new model for gastric cancer drug discovery
Newco news
Signet Therapeutics founder Haisheng Zhang is betting on organoids and AI to outsmart diffuse gastric cancer and the limits of traditional “clean” drug design.

Infection

Scynexis fungerps among funding recipients
Scynexis Inc. has announced that a novel series of antifungal compounds utilizing its proprietary triterpenoid antifungal platform are among five projects funded by a federal grant awarded to the new accelerator consortium led by researchers from Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and...

GSK and Fleming Initiative announce AMR research programs
Artificial intelligence
GSK plc and the Fleming Initiative have announced six major new research programs to find new ways to slow the progress of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Fleming Initiative is a collaboration established by Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to help tackle AMR....
Anti-malarial targets P. falciparum phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase with reduced toxicity
In an effort to generate an effective and safer inhibitor, researchers at the University of Cape Town, University of Dundee and Massachusetts Institute of Technology used structure-guided rational design to improve on their previously reported 2,8-diaryl-1,5-naphthyridine inhibitor.

Neurology/psychiatric

Akeso’s AK-152 gains IND clearance in China for Alzheimer’s
Regulatory
Akeso Inc. has received clearance from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to initiate clinical trials with AK-152 for Alzheimer’s disease.
Adenosine surge is common thread in ketamine and ECT response
Science
Researchers from the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and their collaborators have identified adenosine as the driving force behind the rapid, fast-acting antidepressant effects of ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). “Our journey into this...
Shanghai Innoxtal Therapeutics patents new Nav1.8 blockers
Patents
Shanghai Innoxtal Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has disclosed sodium channel protein type 10 subunit α (SCN10A; Nav1.8) blockers reported to be useful for the treatment of pain, arrhythmia and urinary incontinence.
Drosophila genetic screening reveals mechanisms behind AD pathology
Researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine have characterized 100 conserved Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk orthologue genes in Drosophila and found several with unknown roles in brain structure, function and stress resilience. The implication of this finding is that new pathways of...
Transition Bio and Voyager Therapeutics partner in ALS and FTD
Collaboration
Transition Bio Inc. and Voyager Therapeutics Inc. have entered into a drug discovery collaboration and license option agreement for novel, selective small molecules for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) with TDP-43 pathology.

Endocrine/metabolic

Mitorx Therapeutics raises funds to advance Myo-004 for obesity
Financings
Mitorx Therapeutics Ltd. has raised £5.5 million (US$7.2 million) in a pre-series A round to advance its lead mitochondrial-targeted program, Myo-004, through clinical candidate selection.

Biomarkers

With transdiagnostic approach, smaller target groups aren’t inevitably smaller markets
Neurology/psychiatric
Despite the formidable challenges for developing precision psychiatry, the approach is notching its first successes in the preclinical and even some clinical settings. Many individual studies as well as large projects like the Psychiatric Ratings using Intermediate Markers (PRISM) studies and the...

Anchoring, and bootstrapping, psychiatry into the precision medicine era
Neurology/psychiatric
Psychiatry has struggled to enter the precision medicine era. But through a mix of innovations and bootstrapping, progress is coming to the field. Scientists are working on improving diagnoses by investigating potential biomarkers and collection methods.
Biomarker panel of three serum microRNAs predicts cervical cancer prognosis
Cancer
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in cancer development by regulating genes involved in cell growth, differentiation, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. Because their expression patterns differ across tumor types and stages, miRNA profiles hold strong potential as noninvasive diagnostic and...

Gastrointestinal

Numab and Kaken sign agreement for NM-81 for IBD
Collaboration
Numab Therapeutics AG and Kaken Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have entered into a strategic licensing and co-development agreement for NM-81, a multi-specific antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Korro Bio nominates KRRO-121 as development candidate
Endocrine/metabolic
Korro Bio Inc. has nominated KRRO-121 as its next development candidate, for the treatment of patients with hyperammonemia, including patients with urea cycle disorders and hepatic encephalopathy.
Genfit and Everzom form research collaboration in liver failure
Collaboration
Genfit SA has established a research collaboration with Everzom SAS to expand its acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) research via exosome-based regenerative technology. The partners plan to conduct exploratory studies to assess efficacy of...
Eilean presents in vivo data on MALT1 degrader TE-205
Degradation inducer
Eilean Therapeutics LLC has presented in vivo data for its first-in-class MALT1 degrader, TE-205, as a disease-modifying therapy for ulcerative colitis.
Interline Therapeutics patent reports RIPK2 inhibitors for IBD
Patents
Interline Therapeutics Inc. has identified new compounds receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 2 (RIPK2; RIP-2) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Daewon Pharm patent reveals new H+/K+-ATPase inhibitors
Patents
Daewon Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has reported new compounds acting as H+/K+-ATPase inhibitors useful for the treatment of reflux esophagitis.

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